The economic impact of Daylight Savings Time [Video]

More sunlight is always a welcome sign that spring is on the way. Nonetheless, the extra hour of light that comes with springing forward to daylight savings time this past weekend has some negative side effects.

It comes with an estimated economic cost of just over $670 million throughout all metropolitan statistical areas in the nation.

Peer-reviewed studies have found that the loss of sleep after the change to daylight savings time is associated with an increase in heart attacks, strokes, workplace injuries (in specific industries) and traffic accidents.

Two of our economists at Chmura Economics & Analytics — Jonathan Cox and Mike Chmura — used the findings of the peer-reviewed studies to estimate the economic cost of DST for each metropolitan statistical area in the nation based on the industry mix and historical trends.

Metro areas with a higher percentage of construction and manufacturing jobs, for example, had a …